Preseason Dota 2 Player Transfers

Like every year, after the end of The International 2018 many of the teams and players have decided to make a change, hopefully for the better. As a result, new teams emerged and the established ones replaced some of its players.

In this article I’ll make a short recap of the most recent and important Dota 2 player transfers and departures, analyzing their implications for the upcoming Dota Pro Circuit.

Important player transfers and departures

iceiceice joined Fnatic

After a fairly successful season with Mineski, iceiceice decided it was time for a change again and was signed by Fnatic, a team recently lost 3 of its players, namely UNiVeRsE, EternaLEnVy and pieliedie. It remains to be seen what the new roster can do in the upcoming competitive season but on paper things are looking great for the SEA team.

Keep in mind that Southeast Asia will have at least 2 qualification spots for all Dota Pro Circuit events, so a team like Fnatic should definitely be able to qualify for every Major of the season.

Zai joined Team Secret

After playing alongside ppd for one year for OpTic Gaming, Zai decided to go back to one of its former teams. No doubt, he will do great things for Secret, just as he did for OpTic and Evil Geniuses in the past.

This is the second time when Zai plays under Puppey’s command and judging from his first experience with Team Secret, things are looking promising for the young Swedish star.

kaka joined Keen Gaming

Newbee’s disastrous performance at The International 2018 was clearly the straw that broke the camel’s back. The TI 7 finalists had a rough year, going from bad to worse and only achieving a few successes throughout the season. Subsequently, the organization’s decision to release some of its players comes as no surprise. In particular, kaka decided to join Keen Gaming, one of the weaker Chinese teams at the moment. But we’ll have to see what the future holds!

Misery joined paiN Gaming

The former paiN Gaming coach has joined the team as a player, hoping to change things from the position of in-game leader. At The International 2018, paiN got eliminated in the Group Stage but clearly proved that it can hold its own against best teams in the world and came very close to surviving a pretty difficult group B.

Now, with the addition of Misery to the team’s active roster, paiN is looking to improve its fortunes in the coming season and achieve some notable results.

Dendi left Natus Vincere

Perhaps the most iconic player in the history of the game was finally released from the team where he spent his entire career: Na’Vi. It is not yet clear what he will do next, but his departure came as a shock for everyone. Arguably, the team has been struggling ever since RodjER got transferred to Virtus.pro, so we knew that big changes were needed for the next season. But nobody expected Dendi to leave.